Malaysia studying companies' proposals on whether to resume search operation for MH370

The Malaysian government is studying proposals from three companies, which asked to resume the search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, said a Malaysian senior official on Tuesday.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that the three proposals, offered by U.S. company Ocean Infinity, Dutch company Fugro and a Malaysian local company respectively, are being discussed by the government and experts.

According to Liow, Ocean Infinity has offered a "no-find, no-fee" condition while the other two also offered low price charges.

He did not give a deadline for the discussion of the details, but said that any final decision will be made by the MH370 Tripartite meeting along with governments from China and Australia.

"We won't decide anything now on whether we are embarking on a new search or not," Liow said.

The three governments suspended the search operation in January after almost three years' efforts in a 120,000-square-km area in the Southern Indian Ocean failed to find any sign of the wreckage of the plane.

But a report from the Australian Transport Safety Board released recently noted that the understanding about the location of MH370 was now "better than ever."

MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 239 on board, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.